2 heads garlic whole heads papery skin left on cut in half across the middle to expose each garlic clove
3 tablespoons vegetable oil use a mild flavored one
1/4 cup tamari soy sauce low sodium or 1/4 cup shoyu soy sauce low sodium
7 cups room temperature water preferably spring divided
1 -3 cup shiitake mushroom stems see description above
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh parsley
1 teaspoon peppercorn
Steps:
Preheat the oven to 350F Spray and 11 X 13-inch backing pan with cooking spray
Place the onions carrots celery beets and garlic in the pan Drizzle with the oil and toss to coat the vegetables Pour over the soy sauce and bake until the vegetables are deeply browned almost burnt-looking about 1 hour
Transfer the vegetables to a large heavy soup pot Add 5 cups of the water and the remaining ingredients
Pour the remaining 2 cups of water into the baking pan and using the blade since of a spatula scrape up all those wonderful browned caramelized bits on the bottom Add this to the soup pot
Bring the water to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer partially covered 30 minutes Cool slightly and strain
